I ran through the forest, my bare feet skating across the hard ground. My breath came in rasps, and my heart was beating wildly. I could feel their presence behind me, quickly catching up to me. I pushed myself to go even faster, determined to escape the hovercrafts. I heard their blades slice through the trees, their lifting fans already on full power as we were far from the magnetic grid of the city. Running for so long, I felt myself gradually slow down. Just as I thought I was about to be caught, a strong set of arms picked me up. Moving faster than the hovercraft seemingly without any effort, I watched as the sky became clear. I looked up at my rescuer, expecting an extremely fast Tally, Shay, or even Fausto. What I saw puzzled me. Staring straight ahead at the approaching trees, an unfamiliar beautiful person was gracefully carrying me with ease through the forest. Her black hair was cropped short, sticking out in all directions. She had jet black eyes, glowing with strength. Her height, though, surprised me most. This girl could not have been more than 5' 1", and she was easily supporting my weight. Every now and then, she would shift my weight to one hand, and push a tree to the ground, uprooting its lines. Then, after she heard a satisfying crash, she would resume carrying me with both hands. Holding me like you would a baby, or a small child, she loped gracefully through the dark, dense forest. She never seemed to slow until we came across a small lake, crystal clear water rippling in its center. Slowly, she set me down on the water's edge and backed away. It was only then that I saw what she was wearing.
A dirty purple dress barely covered her beautiful dancer-esque body. She was wearing no makeup, yet she looked as pale as a ghost with full, red lips. Her black eyes were wary now, of what, I didn't know. She was wearing no shoes, giving the illusion of a nomad. She looked extremely skinny…emaciated, almost. After I made this assessment, I started to speak, but before I could form words, the mysterious girl cut me off.
"Please, don't speak yet. I know this will be hard for you to forget. I know you are a city boy, and you are running from the law, but please try to stay out here. This lake is clean; you can drink straight from it. I recently killed off a colony of bees. None are left, but the hive is still nested in these trees. I suggest you find it. Also, there is a spear, knife, and a bow with a container of arrows in that log. Over here…" She seemed to be distracted and her words trailed off. Then she rushed over to a rock, pulled up the moss from it, grabbed some pine needles from a tall standing tree, and some palm leaves that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She piled them into a rectangle. Quickly weaving the palm leaves together, she created a makeshift blanket, and then she gathered the pine needles as a base for the simple sleeping place. Placing the moss as a cover over the base of pine, she completed the improvised bed, which I supposed was for me. I realized only then that she thought I grew up in the cities with no access to the wild, and only just ventured to the Smoke and happened to be lucky and escape. Escape was no chance of luck. My parents were ready for this. They knew that Special Circumstances would find our home. The day had come…yesterday. I had lost Tally somewhere along the way, and I hoped I would find her before the lesions came into contact with her head.
I turned my attention back to the girl, and spoke, "What is your name, kind girl?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She mused.
"I would. I was the only child born into the Smoke. I am David of the Smoke. I grew up here. This is my home. I need naught your help."
"You did seem different than the rest of them… Born in the Smoke, huh?" She asked, sounding skeptical. I felt hesitant to respond, but I wanted to please this angel.
"Yes. I grew up in the Smoke. My parents started it to escape the city. I have never been inside the city. You must not have lesions…so strong, maybe…are you a Special?" I wondered. She just let out a sparkling peal of laughter in response.
"Tell you what, David. Call me Alicetairea." (AN-Alice-tear, or Alistair) "I like you, David. Stay put. I'll be back in a few hours. If you need me, just holler. Okay, City Boy?" She smiled at me. The angel smiled at me! Alicetairea smiled at me! And with that statement, she waltzed away into the forest. I decided to look for that beehive she spoke of earlier. After about 15 minutes of looking, I found it. Warily jabbing a stick into the hive from afar to make sure she killed them all, I checked to make sure all the bees were gone. None came out, and I heard no buzzing, so I assumed the coast was clear. I stuck my hand in and struck jackpot. I pulled my hand out of the hive and it was covered with thick, syrupy honey. I licked my hand. I hadn't had fresh honey for months. Since all the new recruits came to the Smoke, I hadn't had much exploring alone time. Suddenly, I felt a shift in the atmosphere. I turned around and saw a huge panther charging at me. With no time to run, I stared in fright at the deadly creature that would bring me to death in a few seconds. He's inches away and leaping toward me when I feel a huge boulder slam into me and throw me across the clearing, with me landing under it. I grunted with the force of the hit. Then I distinguished from the boulder delicate hands and purple fabric.
"Alicetairea, that hurt like heck. What are you thinking?" I uttered through the wind getting knocked out of me. Then like a flash of lightening, she was standing and in a fighting stance. I saw the panther up again, recovered from its run in with the tree I was in front of when it pounced. Alicetairea was going to fight the monster. "Alicetairea! Don't move. It can sense fear. Trust me. Just slowly back away and he will go. Please! Alicetairea!" I screamed at her. She just scoffed and jumped on the back of the panther, flipping through the air and landing in a crouch on him. I just stared at her in awe.
"Oh for Carlisle's sake! Call me Alice! And I'm a little busy at the moment if you haven't noticed, city boy," she told me as she wrestled the panther. Her muddy dress was torn to shreds when she threw the panther across the clearing into the woods. She ran like a bullet from a gun after it, and I heard the sounds of a dying struggle as she no doubt killed the animal. When she emerged from the forest, she was a vision. Her hair was in even more disarray than before, she was covered in the animal's blood, and her dress was only fabric on her skin. It no longer resembled apparel. Then she spoke, "Ugh! You mortals just can't stay safe for a meager hour, can you? Stupid Edward. He just had to suggest the idea that each of us should choose someone who wasn't our mate and live with them for an extended period of time. He just had to choose me, didn't he? Edward with me. Esme with Bella and Nessie. Emmett with Carlisle, and Rose with Jazz. Oh Jazz. Oh how I miss him. Sigh. Speak of the sprite," she muttered as a pale, bronze-haired boy waltzed into the clearing.
"Alice. David. It's nice to see you." He calmly said to us. "Alice, your dress is looking a bit incomplete…Here; take my shirt to keep yourself modest in the face of this…" he seemed at a loss for words, "mundane creature." He shrugged out of his shirt and handed it to her.
"Thanks, Edward," she told him gloomily. "David of the Smoke, this is Edward, my…hmmm. This is Edward. Edward, this is David. He escaped from the Smoke. He is the only child born there." Alice informed him.
"Edward, it is nice to meet you," I stuck out my hand to shake hands with Edward, but Edward wouldn't have it.
"I don't associate with mortals, boy. My time with them is through. Once Bella left, nothing seems normal. No mortal is the same. No. You know what? They're all the same. I give up. Alice. I'll expect you home tonight. Come hither. Bid me farewell." She waltzed forward without hesitation and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which he turned into a close hug. She sighed and melted into his arms. He said, "I miss my Bella," at the same time that she said, "I miss my Jazzy."
"Edward, you need to go. Go home, and leave me with the boy for now. I wish to explore here. It is new territory, and you know how much I love to. So go. Leave, I'll call you when I'm ready to meet with you. Goodbye." She wrapped her slender arms around his narrow frame and carried him stiffly out of the clearing. As soon as they were out of sight, I heard a low growling sound. A mountain lion stalked into the clearing. I jumped into a tuck over towards the log, grabbed a spear, and crouched to kill the lion. It hissed at me as I lunged forward, missing. I tried again, this time stabbing it in the side, spilling its blood. Not a good idea I figured out soon after, mere seconds after the wound, Alice raced towards me, picked me up, held me like a baby, and ran to some lowlands, devoid of life. When she was waist deep in the muddy swamp water, she put me down. I stood up slowly, and the water fell to my thighs. She said to me, "You stupid mor—excuse me. You ignorant, uninformed hu—excuse me again. How could you do that? You should know that when an animal is injured, it has more fervor to fight with. The adrenaline kicks in, and it will kill you." She said to me as if I were a child.
"Listen, Alice, I've killed more than my fair share of wild animals in my day. I could've handled it."